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(04/02/99 10:00am)
From Daniel Fienberg's, "The Fien Print," Fall '99 From Daniel Fienberg's, "The Fien Print," Fall '99I'm sending Jerry Falwell a copy of the latest issue of Rolling Stone. I believe it removes all doubt about the sexuality of poor Tinky Winky. Sure, he carries a purse. Yah, that purple jumper is way fruity. And heaven knows what the antennae on his head are for. But the guy has his own fashion sense and all praise to him. However, any thoughts that he and Po were off doing something deviant behind the baby's-head-like Teletubby sun should be easily erased by the look of pure lust on his face as he stares at lingerie-clad teenybopper Britney Spears. Who, Rolling Stone seems to ask, can blame him? Rarely has the sex- and rock 'n' roll-driven publication been able to suck in an audience in so many ways. First, you have the musical side of the cover girl: Britney's album, ?Baby One More Time is one of the year's biggest hits and the title track has been in constant rotation on MTV. And that brings us to Britney the fetish: Feeding off of the video which features our protagonist prancing around in a Catholic schoolgirl's skirt and knee-highs, RS has a saucy spread of Britney in all-white, angelic and surrounded by dolls and stuffed bunnies; there's Britney in tight Daisy Dukes, "Baby, Baby" spelled in rhinestones on her rear, ready to mount a flowery pink bike; and there is Britney at a baseball diamond, safely behind the backstop which protects her from a throng of eager fans. And finally the magazine has perhaps the best draw of all, Britney the unrelentingly wholesome and bland person: She's a church going Southern belle who finds South Park "sacrilegious" and probably calls everybody "ma'am" or "sir." It isn't enough to just be cute or wholesome if you want to be accepted into the teen market these days. An entire television network, it seems, has grown around different interpretations of teenage sexual development. Whether you look at it as a supernatural (the incomparable Buffy), post-ironic (Dawson's Creek) or wholesome (7th Heaven) phenomenon, the WB is going to fairly extreme lengths to nail that 12-18 demographic. It's all reached an uncomfortable saturation point where it feels as if the teen sex icons are totally unaware of how they are being marketed. Young Britney on Access Hollywood purrs that she'd love to steal Brad Pitt from Jennifer Aniston, seemingly unaware that in a dozen states she would be setting Brad up for a statutory rape sentence. And the Backstreet Boys, gods of the playground set (and probably more than one or two underclassmen), stir their crowds to the max when one emotes, "Am I sexual?" For most 10-year-olds the answer is probably an unconditional, "Huh? Whooo-Hooo!!!!" Teenhood begins with what is almost a five- or six-year period of inebriation. You do lots of things that seem fun and then, when you sober up, you realize how badly you embarrassed yourself. And then, rather than asking people to remind you of the stupid things you did, it seems somehow safer to push it under the rug. Why, oh why, I ask, didn't our older siblings, who embraced Flock of Seagulls, warn us? And why, having been suckered in by the likes of New Kids on the Block and Milli Vanilli, do we refuse to sit down and have a little chat with our younger siblings. It would save so much trouble. "So, um, sis, was that 'N Sync you were listening to?" "No, it was the Backstreet Boys." "Oh. You realize they're all freaks, don't you?" "No they aren't! They're the best singers and dancers on Earth. And Nick Carter is just dreamy!" "OK. But when you start burning that 98 Degrees CD, don't come to me looking for propane." So, with all this in mind, I'm just wondering who Rolling Stone and MTV are pandering to with these nymphets and mini-(stud)muffins. Or are they moving targetlessly, hoping that youths will buy into the hype, allure and sexuality before realizing how guilty and fleeting such pleasures really are. And we can all just pray that they'll come to their senses before La-La, Dipsy and Po become tainted.
(03/05/99 10:00am)
Imagine yourself driving a car, waiting for the streetlight to change and drifting spontaneously into a deep sleep. It may sound comical to some, but to those who suffer from narcolepsy, it's a nightmare waiting to happen. Enter Nursing Professor Ann Rogers, a newcomer to Penn who came here from the University of Michigan in January -- a board-certified expert in sleep disorders who is among about 20 other sleep researchers here at Penn. "[Narcolepsy] is a physical problem related to the neurotransmitters, which are chemical signals, in the brainstem," Rogers said. "Its onset is usually in the late teens and it's lifelong." Rogers emphasized that there is plenty of hope for those stricken with the disorder. According to Rogers, narcolepsy is "a treatable illness? treated with stimulants such as amphetamines and ritalin. [The patients] don't get high, they simply attain normal wakefulness." "My research is focused on treatment efficacy," says Rogers. "We don't know much about how to manage treatment." In her research, Rogers has used a device that is about the size of a Walkman, known as "ambulatory recording" equipment, that monitors the 24-hour sleep-wake pattern of a subject. Rogers maintains that while on stimulants 40 percent of her subjects were able to stay awake all day and attain normal sleep patterns. Rogers has also studied patient use of medication by using a special pill bottle that contains a computer chip. By detecting when the cap is removed, the chip records the frequency and interval between doses. Currently, she is involved in an examination of the difference between those who respond to stimulant medications and those who do not. For Rogers, the greatest obstacle to research that "it's not a real common disease.? [Only] about one out of every 100,000 people suffer from it." Another complication to narcolepsy research is its common confusion with another disorder called obstructive sleep apnea, which causes the patient to stop breathing during periods of deep sleep. Although it usually does not lead to suffocation, the patient often experiences several restless nights. The lack of sleep leads to excessive daytime sleepiness, the main symptom of narcolepsy. Still, Rogers is optimistic about the future of narcoleptic patients. She is especially excited about the release of a new drug, made by the pharmaceutical company Cephalon, based in West Chester, Pa., known as Provigil. Provigil, which often bears the name Monafinil, was first marketed in France over 10 years ago and is the first daytime sleepiness combatant to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration since the 1960s. The new drug will offer physicians another option for fighting daytime sleepiness. Since patients react differently to each treatment, it is possible that an increasing number of narcolepsy patients could lead normal, wakeful lives.
(02/11/99 10:00am)
University President Judith Rodin talked with students and watched TV in two college houses last night. After a full day at College Hall, University President Judith Rodin spent some time hanging around the dorm -- attending a discussion group at Kings Court/English College House and watching Dawson's Creek with students at Stouffer College House. As part of her ongoing plan to spend time with students from all 12 college houses, Rodin participated in an informal current affairs discussion group called "Headlines" at KC/EH from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The topic of the discussion focused on body image and eating disorders -- which are areas the president has researched and studied extensively throughout her academic career. College sophomore Kristen La Mont said that she was happy to talk to "such an authority on eating disorders." "I think that it's important that she meets with small groups of students," La Mont added. After the discussion, KC/EH House Dean Krimo Bokreta and several students gave Rodin a brief tour of the second floor of English House. "It's just so much fun to be able to come and see students where they live," said Rodin, adding that she enjoyed being able to "pop into people's rooms." Second on the agenda for the president was a trip to Stouffer, where she sat sucking on a lollipop, surrounded by students watching the popular teen television show Dawson's Creek in Faculty Master Philip Nichols' living room. Students said that the informal setting made them comfortable interacting with Rodin. "This is definitely an element where we really are ourselves," College sophomore Carrie Rieger said. Rodin admitted she was a "novice" at watching the show. But she noted that, "If this is what it's like to be in high school, I shudder to think what my 11th grader is doing." Stouffer House Dean Anne Mickle said the event was a valuable opportunity for students to spend time with the president. "For many students this will be the first, if not only, opportunity to see [the president] close up," she noted. After the show ended, the president chatted casually with students over coffee and dessert. The highlight of that discussion was Penn's stunning 50-49 loss to Princeton at yesterday's men's basketball game. Stouffer graduate associate and fourth-year Medical student Ramin Ipakchi said he thought the event was "a good idea, symbolic of people higher up spending time with people they usually don't have contact with." Last semester, Rodin made similar visits to Hill, Hamilton, Harrison, Harnwell, Gregory and DuBois college houses. Sue Smith, a spokesperson for the college house system, said the visits have been "tremendously interesting and fun." The president plans to visit all 12 of the college houses by the end of the semester, according to Jennifer Baldino, the director of external affairs for the president's office. The only residences she has left to tour are the four houses in the Quadrangle.
(01/22/99 10:00am)
From Nadia Dowshen's, "Urban Guerrilla," Fall '99 From Nadia Dowshen's, "Urban Guerrilla," Fall '99Each year over one million adolescent girls become pregnant and over half give birth. Policy makers, educators, health care and social service workers and individual citizens have identified adolescent pregnancy as one of our nation's most pressing health and social problems. Ironically, the issue of teen pregnancy came to public attention during the late 1960s, a time of relatively sharp decline in all birthrates, especially when compared with the "baby boom" of the 1950s. Although overall teen birth rates were declining at this time the proportion of births to unwed teen mothers was increasing dramatically. The legislative reaction to this shift was pronounced. In 1978, Congress passed the Adolescent Health Services and Pregnancy Prevention Act. Unfortunately, interpretations of much of the published data on early childbearing reflects societal anxiety about adolescents, rather than what has really happened. The actual birthrates to teens have remained stable throughout the 20th century and actually declined slightly in recent years. The youngest teen mothers -- those under 15 -- account for only 1 percent of out-of-wedlock births and only 2.3 percent of births to all teens. Eighteen- and 19-year-olds actually account for the majority of births to teens, about two-thirds of the total. When we talk about "babies having babies," we are really only talking about 12,000 births to teens under 15 per year. Attitudes about teen pregnancy -- and the resulting presentation of data -- reflect concerns about a host of other worrisome changes in society. Societal concerns about sex, marriage, poverty, race, dependency, difficulties of getting ahead in an increasingly competitive global economy, family values and relationships of individuals to communities have all affected perceptions of teen pregnancy. Public officials, activists, academics and private citizens have used teen mothers -- as a tool and as a scapegoat -- to bring attention to inequalities in our society and to blame someone for our social ills. The discourse of teen pregnancy exemplifies our society's uncertainty about gender roles, economics and race. We have come to expect women to emulate competitive, selfish, male behavior in the workplace, but to carry on their traditional roles as altruistic nurturers elsewhere. The same social conditions that encourage teens to have babies also work to prevent them from ever being ready to have kids in the way that the white middle class might prefer. Also the discussion of teen pregnancy is forced to focus on teen mothers instead of young parents because the data on young fathers is limited. However, the discourse should not be feminized; it should not be taken as natural that teen pregnancy is just a women's issue. We must be aware of how the discourse has been constructed. This in no way denies the reality of the teen pregnancy problem and its consequences for adolescent mothers and their children, but rather brings attention to how we frame the discussion. Don't be fooled by the stereotype of the 15-year-old mother on welfare and don't blame young mothers for society's problems that have only made their lives more difficult.
(01/14/99 10:00am)
My wife and I live on a beautiful little side street called Farragut Terrace. Narrow and tree lined, it is tucked just north of Spruce between 46th and 47th. It's a street of row houses, much like most of the others in West Philadelphia. While less than 18 feet wide each, Farragut's homes are large, spanning five floors from basement to attic. It was the attic that made our house famous. During the early part of this century, a woman named Ruth Plumly Thompson sat way up there, looking out a small window. In her mind, she saw not the street below, but the magical land of Oz. In 1920, Thompson had been approached by William Lee, vice-president of the Chicago publishing firm of Reilly & Lee. One of the company's most successful writers, L. Frank Baum, had died the year before after writing 14 best-selling volumes in his Wizard of Oz saga. The publisher, having made quite a bundle from the sales of these books, was not at all pleased by Baum's demise. Lee had known of Ruth for some time. He had seen many of the children's stories the young woman had been writing for the then-popular newspaper, The Philadelphia Ledger. A graduate of William Penn High School, Ruth was the daughter of George Thompson, night editor of The New York Times. George died of heart failure in 1895, when Ruth was only 4. His death left the family destitute. But the writing genes apparently had been passed from father to daughter. In her teen years she started submitting children's stories to the Ledger, which ultimately named her editor of its children's page. Chicago publisher Lee convinced Thompson she was the perfect choice to continue the tradition Baum had begun. She started writing and didn't stop until 19 additional Oz books had been added to the series -- five more than originator Baum had written. First came Kabumko in Oz, published in 1922. Her series ended 17 years later with Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz. Many fans say that Thompson came closer to the original Baum style of writing than the handful of other writers who subsequently tried recreating Oz. When I moved into the Farragut Street house, my then-new wife had already lived there for six years. She was the one who told me about Ruth Plumly Thompson and her connection to the house. But there was more. My wife showed me a box that contained all the fan mail that had come to the house over the years. The letters mostly were from children, kids who had found old copies of the Thompson books -- perhaps in their grandparents' attics. They all had read one or more of the dusty volumes and had noticed, in the preface to each, a lovely message from the author to her young audience. Here, for example, are a few lines from the note in Thompson's 1934 The Wishing Horse of Oz: "Your letters all year have been grand and if I had the magic necklace mentioned in this story I would wish you three hundred and sixty-five days of happiness. "So, happy year to you, dears. And next year? Ah, well, who knows what will happen next year? Another Oz book maybe, if you still want one. Write me if you do, and best of everything to you all, always." She signed each note RUTH PLUMLY THOMPSON and included -- so the readers could write to her -- her address. Our address! Can you imagine an author printing his or her real address in a book today? I looked at the box of letters. It was filled with darling bits of fan mail sent to our address by young readers who didn't know Ruth had died in 1976. Some of the letters included suggestions for future Oz characters and adventures. One was shipped with a tiny box in which we found a toy pearl necklace, likely in answer to Thompson's wish for a magical necklace. I joked to my wife back then that in 1966 the University of Pennsylvania had given me a certificate confirming that I had a brain, just like the diploma the Scarecrow received in Baum's first Oz book. I had no idea that seven years later I would move on to another step in the Oz saga. On the night of June 27, 1997, I was in our house -- Ruth's house -- when I started feeling chest pains. Indigestion? No. Added to the pain were shortness of breath and other symptoms that convinced me I was having a heart attack. A call to 911 brought an ambulance that rushed me to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 12 blocks away. What the doctors in the emergency room found was a 52-year-old patient with a critically failing heart. Somehow, the crack medical staff at the hospital kept me alive for nine weeks. Then, on the night of September 9, I found myself on an operating table at HUP. I knew what was about to happen. To say it as succinctly as possible: a cardiac team would anesthetize me, saw open my rib cage, cut out my failing heart and replace it with a strong, much younger one. Yes, a heart transplant. I woke up early on the morning of Sept. 10, 1997, with a new heart, compliments of an unknowing donor and the University of Pennsylvania transplant team. So, in 1966, Penn had given me a brain. 31 years later, just as the Wizard granted to the Tin Woodman, Penn gave me a heart. I am not anticipating the event that might occur to prove I have Lion-like courage, but if it arrives I hope -- in the spirit of L. Frank Baum and his successor, Ruth Plumly Thompson -- that I'll be equal to the task. As Thompson wrote in that preface, "Who knows what will happen next year?"
(12/01/98 10:00am)
From David Kim's, "Aspirin for Your Postmodem Headache," Fall '98 From David Kim's, "Aspirin for Your Postmodem Headache," Fall '98In the salon of a patron's home in the late-19th century, Peter Tchaikovsky's "First String Quartet" was performed for a small group of Moscow's intelligentsia and aristocracy. During the now famous "Andante Cantabile" movement, the great author Leo Tolstoy -- one of the honored guests -- began to weep. This meeting without words is a classic example of one of the most important and influential forces ever to move this world. I call this force Dialogue. Dialogue is an activity that has been taking place since the dawning of time and will continue long after the world as we know it is gone. It is the powerful exchange of ideas, thoughts, feelings, emotions -- everything, really -- that occurs daily and perpetually. Although we take part in this Dialogue in the present, and we all do, it doesn't take place exclusively with our own contemporaries. Rather, Dialogue is continuous and inextricably interconnected. Artists, thinkers and innovators have always played upon the creations, thoughts and actions of others. Likewise, we are constantly influenced by our participation in Dialogue, regardless of whether it is active or passive. We make decisions based on wisdoms gained through Hamlet's pondering, construe our understanding of situations in Freudian terms and base our judgment of a Velazquez painting in the context of earlier and related works. And in its fascinating, ever-expanding way, Dialogue knows no boundaries. Today we have Bossa Nova a la Beck. The minimalist Robert Wilson produces Wagner's traditionally lavish and wildly romantic Lohengrin. Manet's controversial and groundbreaking "Olympia" was partially a response to the 19th-century Parisian sexual revolution. Through deliberate allusions to his own and others' paintings, plays and novels, he arguably created the first modern nude and one of the most significant paintings of his time. Goethe, Beethoven and Tolstoy all produced works in response to the rise and wars of Napoleon, and today we draw upon them in efforts to better understand the nature of nationalism and political organization, among other things. Likewise, we still learn lessons in geopolitics from Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian Wars. Yet I prefer to think of the column as a contribution to the greater Dialogue. The topics on which I have written have generally been those about which nothing can be said to be true or false in absolute terms. In fact, the worst reading I can imagine of this column (or of anything, for that matter) would be an automatic, contented acceptance. Rather, I would hope that it would be met with both interest and scrutiny, such that the end result is a more enriched opinion on the matter, whether in agreement or contradiction. That is, after all, the nature of Dialogue. It is provocative and anything but static. During our mid-teens and at the advent of our intellectual maturity, when East of Eden, Anna Karinina or The Brothers Karamazov asked us to reassess our concepts of religious faith and belief, that was Dialogue. When a piece of music can still move us to tears and invoke images and thoughts centuries after its composition, that is Dialogue. When we engage in discussions on interpretations of these original works, that is again Dialogue. And in every way, the entirety of academia is Dialogue. To raise the question once again, Why is it important to suggest all of this? Because once we recognize the magnitude and the interconnected nature of Dialogue, the world is infinitely smaller, our everyday lives present ceaseless opportunities for contributions to it -- no matter how minor -- and "humanity" and "mankind" become tangible concepts, the attainment of which suddenly seem possible. So when you are hard at work on that paper or studying for that exam this month, remember the spirit in which knowledge and advancement have been sought after. That paper, that class and this education are about much more than a grade on your transcript. And the benefits reaped from them may very well extend further than this semester, your chances for a good job or even your own life.
(11/24/98 10:00am)
Doctoral candidate Bryan Coutain draws on his unique Caribbean American background to teach political science. Growing up in Grenada, the smallest sovereign nation in the Western Hemisphere and site of a 1983 U.S. invasion which toppled the island's Marxist government, School of Arts and Sciences graduate student Bryan Coutain got a chance to learn first-hand about the importance of international politics. And although Coutain did not have the chance to attend a regular school until he moved to the United States at the age of 13, the 29-year-old doctoral candidate has now dedicated his life to studying the intricacies of international relations. "I think he knows more than any other professor I've had in this school," said College senior Chad Pimentel, a student in Coutain's undergraduate Political Science seminar. Although Coutain said he is proud to be an American citizen, his Caribbean heritage continues to be important in both his life and his work in the University's Political Science Department. "I think he draws a lot from his cultural background," said Susan Lo, a College senior also enrolled in Coutain's seminar, entitled "Distributive Conflicts in the International Economy." Coutain did not have the opportunity to attend formal schooling during his early childhood, as he spent his pre-teen years with his grandmother and extended family on a farm in Grenada, where he worked full-timeto support them. Even at a young age, however, Coutain said he understood the importance of what he calls "linkage to the international economy." As a young boy he envisioned himself having his own business in a field such as tourism or real estate rental. Coutain's plans changed though, when he moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., at the age of 13 to live with his mother and attend public high school there. Coutain remembers experiencing "a culture shock of momentous proportion" in his new home. After growing up in a "small village that was really a community," it was hard for Coutain to adjust to life in New York City. Although he didn't feel discriminated against, Coutain was surprised at the level of ignorance of many Americans about life in the island nations in the Caribbean Sea. "I don't know if it was stereotypes or just people's stupidity," he said. Either way, Coutain described experiencing an emotional "civil war" in which he felt torn between his Caribbean heritage and his new identity as an American. He admitted that he had an "idealized version of the Caribbean and didn't know about the exploitation that goes on." When he graduated from high school and began attending Hofstra University on Long Island, Coutain met more people from the Caribbean and started talking about the region on an intellectual level. He was very involved in student government and became the director of political affairs for the African Caribbean Society. This office afforded Coutain the opportunity to invite Eugene Pursoo, the then-Grenadan ambassador to the United Nations, to Hofstra for a guest lecture. He said the ambassador became a father figure for him and has had a huge impact on his success. "He came, we talked, and we were almost identical twins in the way we looked at things in the Caribbean," Coutain recalled. Coutain visited Pursoo often at the U.N., where he met other top officials. After graduating from Hofstra with a dual degree in political science and history, Coutain applied to Penn where he hoped to earn a master's degree in political science and then go on to law school. But when he applied, the Political Science Department offered him a special fellowship to earn his doctorate at no cost. In addition to his teaching duties, Coutain is currently writing his doctoral thesis, entitled "Bilateralism Really Matters: the International Political Economy of Domestic Labor and Environmental Regulations." Coutain said he hopes the paper will "make a contribution to the field of political writing" by exploring the way in which nations make international agreements with each other. In the future, Coutain said he hopes to teach political science at a public university. "He's very enthusiastic about his work and anxious to become a better teacher," said College senior Lisa Palladino.
(11/19/98 10:00am)
College junior Melanie Redmond doesn't have a typical after-school job. While many students earn their spending money stacking books at Van Pelt or serving food at Eat at Joe's, Redmond writes a nationally syndicated column about the Internet for Knight Ridder, the company that owns both the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News, called "Cyberchick." "In a good week, my column appears in 50 papers across the nation," Redmond said. The column is just one of Redmond's present journalistic ventures. She currently serves as managing editor of the Vision and is the co-editor of W.E.B. DuBois College House's newsletter, the WEB. In high school, she spent her afternoons loitering around the office of the Philadelphia Daily News. "I would just go up in the elevator and hang around," recalled Redmond. "I befriended a couple of people on the staff." Redmond's efforts paid off. In June 1996, she began writing for the weekly "teen" section of the Daily News. After Redmond wrote a piece related to the Internet, she was asked to take on the full-time Internet column. The topic of her column varies each week. In one recent column, she talked about on-line grief counseling. In another, she wrote about Halloween websites. "I realized that I wanted to be a journalist in the tenth grade," Redmond said. "One day I was talking in my computer class, and my teacher told me to stop talking and write my thoughts down." He offered her a passing grade if she joined the school paper. She did, and has been writing ever since. Redmond later participated in a two-week summer program for high school journalists run by the Daily News. "I loved the stress of having three articles due at once," she recalled. One of Redmond's favorite stories was an interview she did with Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell, the stars of the 1997 movie Good Burger, a G-rated comedy based on a Nickelodeon skit. She rode around in their limo and attended a public relations event at Dave & Buster's restaurant on Delaware Avenue. "The people from Nickelodeon gave me all day and they only gave the reporter from the Inquirer 20 minutes," she explained. She has also written articles about fires and missing children for the Daily News. While covering a recent area fire, Redmond noted that the Red Cross only provided the victims with shelter for one night. "I got the Red Cross mad at me," Redmond said. "I had to make sure my facts were straight so the paper didn't get sued." After Penn, Redmond said she would like to get a job in print journalism. "The thing about print journalism is that there aren't a lot of jobs," she noted. "If I do get a job right out of college, I won't go to graduate school." Redmond is also member of the National Association of Black Journalists and the house manager of DuBois. "Melanie is the nuts and bolts behind the paper. Any newspaper needs experienced people [like Melanie] to bring ideas to fruition," said College senior Malik Wilson, the co-editor of the Vision and a Daily Pennsylvanian columnist. 1990 College graduate Sonia Elliott, the DuBois house dean, added "Melanie is probably one of the most talented students I've ever worked with."
(11/18/98 10:00am)
America's cities would be worse off without faith-based social work, a leading scholar said yesterday. American inner-city life, already deplorable by many standards because of guns, drugs and teen pregnancy, would be much worse without the intervention of "faith-based groups," according to Princeton University Professor John DiIulio Jr., a nationally renowned expert on criminal justice and public policy. More than 200 people came to the University Museum's Harrison Auditorium yesterday to hear DiIulio's "Have Faith in the Inner City Youth" speech, which stressed the importance of faith-based community groups in the lives of inner-city children. His speech kicked off this year's Steinberg Symposium, entitled, "Beyond Ideology: Discovering Hope for America's Cities in Leadership, Management and Faith." The 1998 symposium, funded by University Trustee Saul Steinberg and his wife Gayfryd, is a three-day conference about urban issues. DiIulio, a 1980 Penn alumnus, began by noting that many inner city children are "at risk" because they do not come from loving, stable families. He added that partnerships between faith-based groups and other institutions, such as the government, can help these children. DiIulio also pointed to mentoring groups -- like Big Brothers and Big Sisters -- which help keep children away from drugs and violence. But even these groups still fail to reach the worst of the at-risk children, he said, since there are far too few mentors available. Many communities have churches and faith-based groups, which can pick up where groups like Big Brothers leave off, DiIulio said. The reason that these groups work where others do not is that they win the trust of children, he explained. These groups are always there for children when they are needed, and few of them try to force a set of beliefs on the children -- only a sense of spirituality, he added. But DiIulio warned that "churches alone cannot save the inner cities," and that there is still a need for support by community members in the form of time and money. According to DiIulio, the government still needs social programs, such as welfare and Medicaid, to keep supporting the families so that substantive improvement can be felt. Three Penn professors then redressed the issues DiIulio introduced. "Demoralization is a deep, pervasive problem in urban America," Sociology Professor Elijah Anderson said. But he stressed that economic opportunity, along with spiritual opportunity, plays an important role in solving inner city problems. But Sociology Professor Kathryn Edin also said that government intervention in faith-based groups can potentially interfere with the groups' missions in specific communities. She said that the government doesn't know what is going on in the community -- while faith-based groups do. History Professor Thomas Sugrue added that "the academic world has given little attention to religion and religious-based groups." He also warned that the emergence of faith-based groups might lead the government to cut back on its social programming. Instead, he said that government and faith-based groups should work together to achieve their common goals. Addressing the concerns of the Penn professors, DiIulio said that "we cannot talk of government withdrawal or devolution." He said partnerships between the government and the faith-based groups are necessary to help the maximum number of people in need. Reaction to the event was generally positive. College senior Pete Gutherie, who attended the event, said he thinks that faith-based groups are the best way to solve the problems of at-risk children because "churches are the strongest institutions remaining in the inner city."
(10/15/98 9:00am)
To the Editor: The event was scheduled to be both a social event for Greek and non-Greek students and an event to boost enthusiasm for the Greek Week Carnival held on campus last Saturday for inner-city children. The event was cancelled last Wednesday because of concerns raised by administrators. It really does not matter who receives the blame for the miscommunication that caused the cancellation. What matters is that yesterday I met with administrators from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, the Penn Police, the Vice Provost for University Life and the Office of the President, along with the InterFraternity Council. We talked about how the Panhellenic Council Greek Week Committee could have addressed the administration's concerns in such a way that would have allowed the party to occur. I left the meeting with the hope that a similar event to the cancelled Greek Mixer will happen next year during Greek Week. In the long run, it does not matter who is burdened with the blame for causing the cancellation of the event. What matters most is that yesterday students sat down with administrators and discussed ways of making the event happen in the future. Janelle Brodsky Panhellenic Council President College and Engineering '99 Reminders of racism To the Editor: I am not going to rant and rave over Stephanie Cooperman's failed attempt to relate to the black experience in her column "Linguistic relics of subjugation" (9/30/98). However, I sure as hell am going to express my fear and outrage over the double standards and childish attitudes expressed toward racism in this column. A child believes that if he puts his hands over his eyes, everything around him disappears and that he is invisible to the rest of the world. Cooperman seems to believe the same about racism; if we delete its modes of expression, or cover it up, it will no longer exist. Cooperman also seems to believe that because she makes racial slurs without the intent of committing hate crimes against her friends, her belittling names are socially acceptable. Even more disappointing than her attitudes is that Cooperman is not the only person guilty of these juvenile perspectives. I wouldn't be so enraged if Cooperman was the only white person I knew who calls their black friends by derogatory names. But she is only one of many. I don't know any blacks who've been verbally abused by an extrovert racist, i.e., a Ku Klux Klan member or a God-fearing evangelist, but I know many who have been called such terms as "nigger," "blackie," "darkie," "boy," "slave" and "colored" by their white friends in jest. What whites don't understand is that it hurts to be called such derogatory names; it boldly marks the difference between you and them as negative. And the racial superiority that, though unmentioned, you both know they have is brought into the discussion. Because the confrontation isn't volatile, it's difficult to tell whether or not the racial slurs are made in earnest. We, as a society, are only taught how to recognize social/extrovert racism. Both black and white people know that hate-based propaganda, vandalism and abuse are wrong. Because the hatred is obvious, most anyone can see it should be destroyed. There are numerous forms, however, of more common but less recognized racism that, in a lump sum, are known as covert racism: the under cover, not socially accepted manifestations of the afore mentioned. Covert racism is more dangerous than extrovert racism because there's no way to directly attack it. When a white person calls his black friend "blackie," he is unfairly exploiting his friend's emotions on a racial level, and that is racism. But because it's an obscure form of racism, the injured party has little identifiable grounds for complaint. To whine and call "racism" would only be further alienating. The easiest thing to do is try and laugh it off and, if you can, stick a racial slur against whites into the retort. Which seems to be how Cooperman and her friends began calling each other derogatory names. If her black friends were certain that her slurs for them were terms of endearment, they wouldn't wonder if she ever thinks of them as niggers. And if Cooperman really was only expressing camaraderie, she wouldn't need to stress to her readers that "the word nigger has never been part of [her] vocabulary." Cooperman is so focused on that word nigger, that one tiny spec in the amassment of racism, that she misses the big picture. So long as whites see and take the opportunity to berate blacks or other minorities, with or without hateful intent, racism will exist. Our culture needs words like "nigger" as a constant reminder that racism is an ever present force in our lives. The expulsion of this word, and other hate words, from our language is not the cure to, but an augmentation of, covert racism. The only way to end racism is to confront its source head on. Nikki Lyons College '02 Addressing smoking To the Editor: Less than a month remains before people across the country observe the Great American Smokeout. I am writing to invite students to take part in planning a campus-based strategy to educate students about the health risks of smoking, and to support smokers who wish to quit. The last 10 years have seen a dramatic rise in teen smoking rates, and a corresponding rise in smoking on U.S. college campuses. Many teens begin as "social smokers," never intending to become nicotine-dependent, only to discover that quitting is not so easy once they've hit their early 20s. The clinical staff at Student Health Service is genuinely disturbed about the levels of student smoking they have observed. As one of the Health Service's prevention educators, I want to explore ways that Penn students can influence their peers and hopefully cut the campus smoking rate. This is a complex problem with no single, easy solution, but the Great American Smokeout in November offers us a chance to begin our work. If you are a student who cares about this issue, please contact the Office of Health Education (573-3525 or she@pobox.upenn.edu) and get involved in planning for the Smokeout. Or visit us at 3609 Locust Walk, third floor. Kurt Conklin Office of Health Education
(10/12/98 9:00am)
Actors and crew members were on hand Saturday to shoot scenes from 'Kimberly' throughout campus. Here's a sneak preview of an upcoming film: She is Kimberly, an expert rower who spends her days on the Schuylkill River. He is Walter, a university professor who spends his days teaching in a building that looks an awful lot like Bennett Hall. Parts of Penn's campus became a backdrop for a feature-length romantic comedy called Kimberly on Saturday, when more than two dozen crew members and actors set up camp along the corner of 34th and Walnut streets. The crew arrived with their sound and film equipment and their make-up and catering trailers at the break of dawn in preparation for a full day of shooting. Kimberly, a low-budget film set in Philadelphia, stars Gabrielle Anwar, best known for her tango with Al Pacino in the 1992 hit Scent of a Woman, and Sean Astin, who played the title role in the 1993 film Rudy. Molly Ringwald, an icon of 1980s teen films, will play a supporting role, though she was not on campus Saturday. Anwar plays Kimberly, a coxswain who meets four men, all young professionals. The men, who have been trying their hand at crew for a while, without much success, are inspired by Anwar to improve. "She is unwittingly thrown into a situation where she ends up coaching four eligible bachelors," the petite, brown-haired Anwar explained. And, although they each promise one another they won't, all four bachelors fall in love with the film's heroine. The plot turns when Kimberly discovers that she's pregnant. One of the four men, Walter -- played by Robert Mailhouse -- is a professor at an unnamed Philadelphia university, and parts of Penn's campus are featured in his scenes. Saturday's crew filmed shots of Walter entering and exiting Bennett Hall, lecturing in the building's Penniman Library and strolling around Locust Walk outside the Fine Arts Library with Kimberly. Other shots featured the exterior of the Psi Upsilon fraternity -- or the Castle -- on 36th Street and Locust Walk. The Penn name or logo will not be used in the final product. Kimberly's creators were considering identifying Walter's university as Penn when they initially asked the University's permission to film the campus, but administrators opposed the idea. Ann Davis, a University spokesperson, said that decision was based on the film's plot. "In this movie, there's a professor who sleeps with a young woman," Davis explained. "We just didn't feel we wanted that person to be representative of a Penn professor." Kimberly Productions, the independent company producing the film, paid the University $1,000 to hire an electrician, a Physical Plant representative and a security guard to assist the film crew. Davis says that financially, the University is breaking even. "It's not something that benefits us directly, but we obviously know that it helps Philadelphia," Davis said, adding that Penn is simply "being a good neighbor" to the rest of the city by appearing in the film. Other recent films to feature the Penn campus include Philadelphia, starring Tom Hanks, which had a scene in the Fine Arts Library, and the science-fiction thriller 12 Monkeys, in which an elephant walked outside Franklin Field for a few seconds. According to the film's location manager, Derrick Loris, choosing Penn's campus was a decision based on a "combination of look, time and money." The 30 days of filming will all be done in Philadelphia, with 10 of those days on Boathouse Row. Kimberly's creators were looking to film at a campus near Center City and at first considered Drexel University. But the film's shooting schedule fit best with Penn's schedule. Kimberly's director, writer and producer, Frederic Golchan -- who is directing for the first time, but recently produced The Associate starring Whoopi Goldberg and Intersection, starring Richard Gere and Sharon Stone -- said he liked Penn's look. "I love the classroom," Golchan said about Penniman Library, adding that there is "good architecture around it." And the Furness Building, which contains the Fine Arts Library, he continued, "looks beautiful." Kimberly will also feature parts of Manayunk, Fairmount Park and South Philadelphia. The scenes filmed at Penn were the first ones on the shooting schedule. When the camera started rolling on Saturday morning, the film's stars were not the only ones in front of it. About 50 people spent the day on the set as extras, walking through the scenes to give the setting a university atmosphere. Most of the extras were not Penn students, though all were college-aged. Many said they were sent down to the set by their agents. Andrew Sugerman, a line producer, said he hopes Kimberly will be in theaters by May or June. It will be distributed by Los Angeles-based Moonstone Entertainment. Several locals have already mistaken Kimberly's crew with the film crew working on The Sixth Sense, starring Bruce Willis, which is also currently being filmed in Philadelphia. "I don't think Philadelphia is used to having more than one film shot at the same time," said Loris. Kimberly is still looking for people of all ages and types to appear as extras in the film. For more information, call Kathy Wickline Casting at (215) 739-9952.
(10/07/98 9:00am)
People living in an American city like Philadelphia don't necessarily realize that they, too, can influence the lives of those living in the Third World. But for the past several years, Judy Wicks, owner of the White Dog Cafe, has been demonstrating that it is possible for anyone to help people all over the world. Wicks and the White Dog were honored Monday by the U.S. Agency for International Development, receiving the body's third Lessons Without Borders Partnership Award. This distinction is given to institutions or persons who are committed to improving the lives of others while increasing awareness about the importance of U.S. foreign assistance. USAID -- a 30-year-old independent government agency based in Washington, D.C. -- works to improve the lives of people living in poverty all over the world. Officially launched by USAID in 1994, the LWB program aims to improve the standard of living in Third World countries by bringing people around the world together as they try to solve similar problems, such as teen pregnancy. The LWB project's staff works with nurses, farmers and small businesspeople in developing nations to help raise the standard of living. Additionally, LWB programs based in U.S. cities work to increase awareness of Third World issues and raise funds for USAID. As a result of winning the award, the White Dog is now officially a part of the LWB program. The LWB award was given to recognize the cafe's international "Table for Six Billion Please!" project. The restaurant, working with several non-profit educational groups, is helping to send customers and employees to its sister restaurants in developing countries such as Nicaragua, Lithuania and Indonesia. Tourists experience each nation's culture and are exposed to its economic and political systems, gaining a better understanding of the important issues facing each country, said USAID spokesperson Laura Gross. "We wanted to honor an institution that has a reputation around the world [and] not just because of the cuisine," said USAID administrator J. Brian Atwood. Atwood presented the award to Wicks during a luncheon at the cafe. He began by praising Wicks' work, noting that there "are similarities between what she does and what we do on a larger level." Atwood also addressed the issue of decreased U.S. foreign aid, as well as USAID's own decreasing budget. "We have to wake up the American people, or our own [life] style is going to be affected by this," he said. Everyone at the restaurant agreed that it would take a considerable amount of effort to raise world awareness about the importance of fighting poverty. Still, officials said, events like Monday's can help make a difference. "Getting press is important," said Liz Notman, a special assistant to USAID's chief of staff.
(09/10/98 9:00am)
The Reveille BATON ROUGE, La. (U-WIRE) --EA Louisiana State University student was shot and killed early Saturday morning as he was leaving a party in the Gardere Lane area. Benjamin Carter, 22, of West Garfield Street in Baton Rouge, was transported to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center and was pronounced dead at 5:12 Saturday morning, said Captain Paul Maranto of the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office. Carter, who had previously left the party, returned with his brother and another individual to retrieve one of the men's alarm clock, Maranto said. Carter was leaving the party at 1844 Jasper Ave. for the second time when he was shot, according to Maranto. On Sunday, parish deputies arrested Lavar Riley, of 2021 Helm Dr., on charges of second degree murder, Maranto said. Riley, along with a group of young men in their late teens and early 20s, were asked to leave the party at the apartment earlier Friday evening because they were causing trouble, he said. Riley allegedly came back to the party approximately 30 minutes later armed with a semi-automatic pistol, he said. As the three men exited the apartment, the gunman opened fire and killed Carter, Maranto said. Police responded to the initial phone call at 4:16 a.m. Saturday, he said. Riley probably got frustrated when he was thrown out of the party earlier that evening and was coming back to retaliate against the offending party, Maranto said. The shooter was likely startled when he saw Carter and the other two men leaving the apartment, an event which sparked the gunfire, Maranto added. Carter's brother and the other individual walked out of the apartment in front of him, but Carter was the only one hit in the gunfire, Maranto said. "He just happened to be a victim of circumstances," Maranto said. Police have no reason to believe the individuals involved knew each other before the incident, Maranto added.
(09/04/98 9:00am)
The Associated Press LAS VEGAS -- Jeremy Strohmeyer and his buddy were two weeks shy of high school graduation when they met a 7-year-old girl eager to play hide-and-seek in a casino arcade. Two hours later, Sherrice Iverson was found strangled in a restroom stall. She had been sexually assaulted. Last Monday, Strohmeyer, 19, went on trial for his life, charged with murder. His friend, David Cash Jr., will be a key witness. Sherrice's mother thinks Cash should be a defendant. Strohmeyer lived in an affluent neighborhood of Long Beach, Calif. He was an honor student who excelled in physics and calculus, a popular member of the Woodrow Wilson High volleyball team. Friends describe him as bright but deeply troubled. He and Cash were best friends. That bond, Cash says, prompted him to walk away the night of May 25, 1997, when he saw Strohmeyer assaulting the girl at the Primm Valley Hotel, a cluster of three casinos in Primm, Nev., 43 miles southwest of Las Vegas. While Strohmeyer has languished in the Clark County Detention Center, Cash, also 19, has enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, where hundreds of protesters on August 26 demanded he be expelled. "He was in the bathroom? and he didn't do [anything] about it," said the girl's mother, Yolanda Manuel. "He could have stopped it. I'm very outraged. He is an accomplice to murder." Many at the rally felt Cash should be tossed out of the university, where he is studying nuclear engineering. But UC-Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl said the university could take no action because Cash had not been charged with any crime or violation of the campus' student code. "I think we have to understand the thing that protects all of us is due process," Berdahl said. Prosecutors know Cash will be a vital witness in the trial, which is expected to last up to three months. They also note that no Nevada statute outlaws witnessing a crime and failing to stop it. State legislators say they intend to change that next year. In the months leading up to the killing, friends say, Strohmeyer got mixed up in a world of pornography, drugs and alcohol. He visited pornographic Web sites on the Internet. Prosecutors found hundreds of pornographic pictures on his computer, although the defense claims the teen was sent the pictures and didn't ask for them. Two days later, Strohmeyer, Cash and Cash's father stopped in Primm en route to a Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas. At the Primm Valley Hotel, Sherrice and her brother, Harold Jordan, 14, were playing in the arcade at 3 a.m. while her father, LeRoy Iverson, gambled in the casino. Three times, security guards said they found the girl alone and told her father to come get her. Video surveillance cameras captured Sherrice meeting Strohmeyer and Cash in the arcade and much of what followed: The girl began playing hide-and-seek with Strohmeyer, who had been clowning with Cash. They playfully tossed wet paper towels at one another, but when Sherrice threw a janitor's "wet floor" sign at him, Strohmeyer became angry. The girl darted into the women's restroom. Strohmeyer followed. Cash entered a few minutes later. Cash said he peered over the wall of the wide handicapped stall from the adjoining stall and saw Strohmeyer with his hand over Sherrice's mouth, muffling her screams, and told him to let her go. "I knew at that point that the little game that they were playing kind of crossed the line," Cash said. He said he left the restroom at that point. Strohmeyer later confessed to sexually assaulting girl, then strangling her. Shortly afterward, Cash has said, Strohmeyer told him he'd killed the girl. That night, Strohmeyer, Cash and Cash's father continued on to Las Vegas, then returned to California on Memorial Day, May 26. Classmates identified Strohmeyer and Cash from surveillance videotapes released to the media. Strohmeyer was arrested May 28, moments after swallowing 37 Dexedrine pills in an apparent suicide attempt. Strohmeyer has said Cash had nothing to with the crime, but Sherrice's mother, Manuel, calls him an accessory to murder and has led a petition drive in Los Angeles, gathering some 20,000 signatures, calling for criminal charges. Manuel, a school cafeteria worker, is estranged from Sherrice's father. She blames him for the girl's death. Manuel and Iverson have filed separate lawsuits against Strohmeyer and the resort, claiming the hotel was negligent in not supervising the arcade. With the videotape, Cash's testimony and the three confessions Strohmeyer made to police after his arrest, defense attorneys Richard Wright and Leslie Abramson have major hurdles to overcome. Abramson, best known for defending Lyle and Erik Menendez, the brothers sentenced to life in prison for the 1989 murder of their parents, has portrayed Strohmeyer as a naive, immature teenager who was taken advantage of by police. Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell is seeking the death penalty.
(09/04/98 9:00am)
The Associated Press CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- The University of Michigan has refused to let a freshman accused of rape attend school, a move that was criticized by the teenager's lawyer. "I believe they have forgotten the presumption of innocence," lawyer William Bufalino II said earlier this week. Daniel Granger, 18, class president of his 1998 graduating class in Grosse Pointe North, was ordered in July to stand trial on charges of statutory rape along with three of his classmates. The four are charged with having sex with 14-year-old girls who said they were given alcohol by the boys. Statutory rape does not require proof of force or coercion, only that the girls were under the age of consent at the time. The legal age of consent in Michigan, as in most states, is 18 years. Granger said he was "greatly disappointed" about the decision to suspend his admission. "This is a sad day for me as well as my family," he said. "Personally, this one is a pretty tough pill to swallow." The teen had already been accepted as a freshman when he was informed by letter last month that a hearing was to be held on whether his admission should be suspended. The letter stated that the university's student code of conduct allows officials to suspend a student on an emergency basis if they determine the student's conduct poses an immediate threat. In a letter to Granger made available to media last week by Bufalino, the university's provost, Nancy Cantor, said school officials had decided to defer Granger's matriculation until winter term, 1999, pending a full review. The university refused to discuss the move last week. "He hopes to and prays to attend the University of Michigan in the winter term," Bufalino said.
(09/04/98 9:00am)
University Police had a relatively uneventful summer this year, as the number of major crimes remained unchanged from last year in most categories and the amount of thefts plummeted 31 percent. There were 375 reported thefts between June 1 and August 31, 1997, including 252 on-campus incidents. During the same period this year, however, there were only 142 reported on-campus thefts out of a total of 257, according to official figures. The drop included a 50 percent decrease in reported bicycle thefts. Car thefts also fell this year, dropping to 14 from the 18 reported to police last year. Additionally, an increasingly high percentage of robberies have resulted in arrests this summer, said Det. Commander Tom King. Police have made arrests in 10 of the 17 robberies that occurred during the second half of the summer. King said those numbers have a "two-pronged deterrent effect" on campus crime: First, the perpetrators themselves are arrested and thus taken off the streets; and second, the "word goes out that Penn is not such a great place to commit and get away with crime." King said SpectaGuard security officers aided patrol officers in several of the arrests. The number of burglaries and robberies reported to Penn Police was largely unchanged from last summer, though far fewer occurred on campus. One robbery led to violence on July 4, as a man in his late teens or early 20s stabbed a 46-year-old man in the abdomen during a robbery attempt on the 200 block of South 43rd Street. No arrests have been made in the incident. The victim, who is not affiliated with Penn, was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in good condition. In August, three men allegedly attempted a bizarre robbery of the brand-new Computer Connection store in Sansom Common near 36th and Sansom streets. The trio allegedly crashed a pick-up truck through the store's windows in the early-morning hours of August 6, then loaded "thousands of dollars" worth of electronics equipment into the vehicle, King said. When a police officer arrived at the scene, the three fled and were chased for a few blocks until the truck crashed into a tree at 33rd and Baring streets. Police arrested James Turner, 25, of the 2900 block of Patton Drive and Juan Johnson, 26, of the 3800 block of Baring Street, on charges of burglary and theft. A third suspect remains at large. In an attempt to escape arrest, one of the men threw some of the equipment at the police car during the brief chase, police said. There were no reported homicides and one reported rape this summer, compared to one murder and two rapes -- all off-campus -- last summer. The number of aggravated assaults, which include stabbings, gunshot wounds and serious beatings, jumped from seven last year to 13 this summer. King said there was no specific reason for the increase.
(04/29/98 9:00am)
Remember the Cold War, Woodstock, World War II? Long before Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt sat together at Yalta, Charles Sutter, 82, sat at the Penn Relays. The 1938 Wharton graduate and self described "track star wannabe" has attended every Relays since 1928 except for two years he missed while otherwise occupied saving the world in World War II. And things were different back when the century was still young. Sutter remembers a dirt track, less crowds, even less black athletes and no women at all. "Things have changed," he said, sharp blue eyes casting a direct stare out over the diverse spectators, international athletes and the state-of-the-art track. "But, they have changed for the better," he added. The Relays enthusiast was born in Philadelphia to a postman and his homemaker wife in 1916. Although his father "was a quiet, studious type," young Sutter was a born athlete, faithfully practicing and excelling at football. Later, his skills would win him a scholarship and enable him to attend Penn during the heart of the Depression. Nevertheless, while throwing that perfect pass or making that winning catch, Sutter could not ignore the runners lapping the track. "I always saw track as a perfect mix of grace and power," Sutter explained. "My father really appreciates the sheer athleticism of the sport," said Sutter's son, also named Charles, who has accompanied his father to the Relays since his early teens. At age 12, Sutter saved up earnings from his newspaper delivery job to pay the 50 cents he remembers as the Relays' admissions cost. Usually, he attended alone, but he soon found new companions at Penn, joining Phi Kappa Sigma, Phi Kappa Beta, a junior honor society and Sphinx Senior Society. Most important, however, was still football. "My greatest thrill was being out on the field, in my uniform, with all the crowds yelling and then going out there to play for Penn," Sutter reminisced, noting that Penn was ranked 10th in the nation at that time. After graduating from Penn in 1938, Sutter funneled his Wharton expertise into an entrepreneurial paper business with his brother. However, soon he would hear a greater calling, the only thing to ever come between him and the Relays -- the war. Sutter might have foreseen what was coming when Jesse Owens -- long his ideal athlete ever since he had seen him run at the Relays for Ohio State -- was denied his medal at the 1936 Olympics due to the Nazi racial policy. "People were really upset when that happened," Sutter remembered. "But they didn't know how much worse it would get." Hoping to stem the tide, Sutter enlisted and helped push the Germans back through Belgium in the Battle of the Bulge, winning a bronze star. Upon leaving the army in 1946, Sutter married and started a family which would include two children and eventually three grandchildren. As things changed, the one thing that remained constant was the Relays. Now, 70 years later, Sutter sits in his specially-reserved seat in section SE, located next to the pole vault, in prime viewing distance of the hurdles -- his favorite -- and directly across from the finish line. "I'm just keeping an eye out on the next generation," he said.
(04/06/98 9:00am)
From Karen Pasternack's, "Effective Immediately," Fall '98 From Karen Pasternack's, "Effective Immediately," Fall '98When someone she trusted raped her, where is a safe place? The Penn Women's Center. When she tires of being voiceless in her department and invisible in the classroom, where is a safe place? The Penn Women's Center. Sometimes the world does not seem to be a very place, if you are a woman." There were no divisions within the crowd lingering in front of the building, only a sense of camaraderie as we looked back on the accomplishments of the last quarter-century. Days later, in his column "Just how far have we come?" Steve Schorr used these accomplishments as evidence that Penn may no longer need the Women's Center -- especially on Locust Walk. I wish desperately that I could agree with him, that it would only take 25 years to undo and redefine all the hatred and violence against women that is a dark thread woven into the fabric of our society and our university. He is certainly right that we have come a long way. During Hillary Rodham Clinton's visit to the University last October, she pointed out the myriad choices available to women in 1998, possibilities that past generations of women were never allowed. Listening to her made me realize how often I take these achievements for granted. I became increasingly aware that women have only begun to tap into the power available in this society. And while we should be proud of our advancements, we need to remember that women are heading into the 21st century with an overwhelming number of urgent problems. Schorr is also right to note that times have changed for women at Penn since the Women's Center opened in 1973 after a series of rapes received inappropriate administrative responses. The center has encountered a variety of explosive situations over the years. And some of these moments have revealed its flaws. But no organization as complex as this one can claim perfection. Rather, the benchmark of benefits should be in progress, and the Women's Center is definitely developing rapidly. According to its director, Elie DiLapi, it touched the lives of over 15,000 people last year through its dedication to a diversity of causes regarding issues of gender, discrimination and minorities. Further fault in Schorr's argument lies in that he completely overlooks the center's conceptual framework. It is not about the victimization of white women to the exclusion of all others. It stands for the acceptance of people of all sexes, races and sexual orientations, actively coming together to strengthen the University and West Philadelphia community through tolerance and support. In DiLapi's words, it is "a place of connection for people who may not have found a home elsewhere at Penn." In fact, services to individuals actually comprise only a quarter of the center's traditional work, which is comprised of crisis intervention, counseling and victim support. Additionally, the center offers seminars on women's perspectives on a variety of issues, such as "Women, War and Peace." It has also established a mechanism to track patterns as they emerge on the campus. For example, Students Together Against Acquaintance Rape (STAAR) developed when collected stories of date rape scenarios proved the need for student activism in this arena. Schorr does briefly mention the final portion of the Women's Center's responsibilities, which encompasses the groups that work out of the center. Penn's Eagerly Awaited Radical Ladies (PEARL) and Generation XX are among the most active of the many groups that use the space of the center. Criticizing these groups' radical mission statements, Schorr's conservative response, answers its own questions as to why women's avant garde publications benefit from the support of the center. The basis for Schorr's argument for why we don't need the Women's Center on the Walk revolves around DiLapi, whom he depicts as an autocratic ruler whose sole purpose in running the center is to take revenge on fraternities. Calling attention to DiLapi as the ringleader of some master plan to thwart the fraternity system is nothing more than a weak attempt at scapegoating, especially considering that the Women's Center assumed its place on the Walk only after the Theta XI fraternity was removed as a result of its own unrelated actions. Perhaps Schorr is not wrong when he notes that a center for men's health is lacking from the Walk. But that issue should be addressed separately. The fact remains that there are certain extremely serious issues that men will never completely understand nor have to face in their lifetimes. And in a university environment, these situations do not exist in isolation. For instance, if a woman is in an abusive relationship, her performance in the classroom may suffer. A center with a supportive and anti-discriminatory voice has the power to infiltrate and effect the mechanics of the University system, assisting her recovery and ultimately effecting the well-being of the student population. Schorr can call himself anything he wants, be it a feminist or an international spy. But if we stick to the evidence, we see that while he was busy labeling the Women's Center as outdated in his column last Friday, The New York Times op-ed page discussed sexual harassment in the government and the premeditated killing of four females by two pre-teen boys in Arkansas. But don't rely solely on my words to convince you that the Penn Women's Center should not be taken for granted. If you are still skeptical, look beyond the ink on this page and head to College Green Wednesday for "Take Back the Night."
(03/06/98 10:00am)
To the Editor: Myers is particularly piqued by the other student's statement that since Penn has the resources and the opportunity to do something about the area's problems, it has a moral obligation to do so. To illustrate how ridiculous this idea is, Myers likens it to the outlandish assumption that since General Motors is so rich and influential, it has some sort of obligation to its community. This assumption on Myers' part that it is ludicrous to expect huge corporations who have made billions of dollars from the American people to have any feelings of responsibility to us is highly typical of the climate of feeling in the business community today. Corporations, throughout American history, have donated money, time and leadership to the American people because they felt a responsibility to do so. Even ruthless profit-chasers like Carnegie and Vanderbilt felt this. It is only recently that business has begun to stop feeling obligated to the larger community. Only someone who completely ignores history and society could seriously subscribe to this belief. Myers fits the description when he suggests that Penn abolish the Penn relays (only the world's oldest and largest track and field event) because it might someday, in some fashion, conceivably, by some stretch of the imagination, possibly pose a threat to a student, professor or staff member of the University. The University of Pennsylvania is one of the largest and most influential institutions in Philadelphia. It occupies a large chunk of real estate here in West Philly, and receives city services. In the past, it has benefitted from the city's compliance and cooperation in condemning vast swaths of land in the neighborhood under the aegis of "urban renewal," land which Penn subsequently annexed. The assumption that Penn is an entity that functions independently of Philadelphia, whose concerns are completely unrelated, is egocentric and short-sighted. Even Penn has finally started to recognize this. I realize that business divorcing itself from morality and responsibility may be the wave of the future. Wharton, as a leader in business education, would be derelict in its duty if it did not keep up with iniquitous developments like this. However, Penn, including Wharton, describes itself as an institution of higher learning. Its motto expresses its belief in the value of morals. If Wharton is where Myers learned this sort of business ethics, in his words, "I don't think that was included in the description of what my $30,000 a year is going for." Anthony Smith College '99 u To the Editor: I was appalled to see what articles have been written in The Daily Pennsylvanian since the shooting incidents that occurred on Sunday. While this raises safety concerns to an extremely high levels, it is a time where analysis needs to be directed in the most appropriate areas. Unfortunately, the DP did not accurately analyze safety concerns on campus because it never asked, "Why?" Why is there extreme violence in West Philadelphia? Why can't University Police effectively curb violence on campus? Why hasn't Penn done much, other than peripheral activities, to make West Philadelphia into an economically viable and safe neighborhood? When the school newspaper addresses the wrong issues, like the wooden walls of the Blauhaus, rather than the real problems that affect our campus, the school is given the chance to circumvent the real problems. We need to begin to ask ourselves the aforementioned questions and then answer them with practical solutions that aren't window dressings or increased budgets, but rather a change in our mentality toward the neighborhood around us. Once this happens, maybe incidents like the shooting can become a distant memory, rather than an expected event. Troy Madres College '00 u To the Editor: In the course of time, certain events arise which necessitate the reexamining of our priorities. The shooting of a University student inside a University building is such an event. Our prime reason for being here is education. However, our ivory towers are fallible today. Without safety, our goals as a place of higher learning cannot be accomplished. In the horrible instance of John La Bombard's shooting there seem to be two key issues to address. First, criteria for allowing outside events the use of Penn facilities. Second, the safety of buildings such as the plywood Blauhaus. On the first issue it is of vital importance to recognize Philadelphia's high school basketball championships as a separate entity from security as it involves the West Philadelphia community. This event involves schools remote from Penn' s vicinity and as the last two years of violence have proven brings the possibility of conflict to the heart of our campus. Many security officials have expressed concern over this event. Putting this event in the Palestra puts students at risk. Perhaps there is a reason Penn barely noticed this event when it was held at the more secluded Civic Center. We need to establish event criteria which can be applied without bias against the community but still acknowledge the true levels of risk at some events. The second issue is the security of the University's facilities. Graduate School of Fine Arts Dean Gary Hack has demanded 24-hour guard at the Blauhaus since the incident. I'm sure this gives students a sense of security but the scrutiny should not be diverted to personnel. This incident would not have happened in a standard building. Architecture and fine arts students are often required to complete projects overnight. While all students are frequently called upon to work all night, the difference with these students is they need the equipment housed in sub-standard buildings such as the plywood shop. We must review the wisdom of erecting such buildings in marginal parts of campus. Walking down 33rd Street at 3 a.m. to finish an architectural model now holds even more danger than it used to. A detailed schedule of how to consolidate Fine Arts facilities into secure buildings should be presented to the students immediately. Until these issues are settled we can't feel the University is providing an adequate level of safety to its students. We will all be a little more nervous on the street until the University addresses the specific problems which only came to light after a student was hurt. Unless the University acts quickly and effectively, we will all face danger regardless of where we are on campus. Gregory Buck College student u To the Editor: Kudos to the DP for speaking out against the hosting of the basketball championships at the Palestra. As a long-standing resident, student and staff member of the University I have never understood why certain dangerous events are continually held on University property. It is unfortunate that these events, which promote team building and other positive attributes for young teens, cannot be held without the specter of violence. However, there comes a time when a clear and present danger to the public outweighs any commitment to these types of events. Which brings me to another upcoming event: the Greek Week Picnic. I know it is not politically correct to speak out on this issue, but in the entire time I have been affiliated with the University, the Greek Week festivities have proven to be dangerous to our community. Several years ago I walked down these blocks and was attacked by several participants of the event who were obviously intoxicated. The police told me that they would be more than willing to press charges, but that we may suffer the consequences of a riot. This is disgusting. Why doesn't the city insist that like any other public event, the Greek Week festivities be held in special areas with special permits? How can the police allow emergency access to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania to be blocked. For the record, I'm not speaking as an extremist with a knee-jerk reaction to a situation, but as someone who has experienced the event at many locations throughout the city over the past 10 years. Students new to the University, mark my words. When the next Greek Week Picnic occurs, there will be violence. I think it would be in the best interest of all concerned if the community, the students, faculty and staff all had a right to vote or speak out against all future events being held at the University. Thomas Justice Spruce Hill resident Dental School staff member College of General Studies '01 u To the Editor: As a parent of a Penn student I would like to commend Doug Haber for his letter in Tuesday's paper ("In the wake of four shootings," DP, 3/3/98). I strongly believe Penn has a moral obligation to give something back to the community and hope Sunday's events will not turn it back from this commitment. I am writing regarding the unfortunate shooting on 33rd Street this past Sunday. My husband and I were, in fact, in Philadelphia visiting our daughter -- a sophomore in the College -- when the shooting happened. Although we did not witness the events, we did see the police and media activity on the street. It turned out that our daughter knows the student who was shot. My purpose in writing is to encourage you not to feel that because of this aberrant incident Penn has to shut its doors to the community. From what I have heard, Penn was in no way responsible for what happened. I understand there was adequate security at the Palestra and in truth what happened could have happened at any time under any circumstances. It was not because Penn hosted a basketball championship that people got shot. Both my husband and I strongly believe Penn has a moral responsibility to involve itself with the local community and we applaud any efforts to make your facilities, personnel and students available for that purpose. I sincerely hope this will not deter you from this goal. One of the reasons our daughter picked Penn is that it is in a vibrant city with all the opportunities, and risks, that that involves. We did not send her there to be in an ivory towers separated from the real world. (If we wanted that we could have sent her to the isolation of Bucknell.) In any event, we are proud and thrilled that Pamela is there at Penn and our second daughter might also be applying next year. We know that Philadelphia, like all cities, has many problems. We believe that Penn can and should be a part of finding solutions. Please keep it open. Rita Annan-Brady Penn Parent u To the Editor: As a parent of a Penn student, I have been extremely concerned about the safety of the students, the faculty and Penn staff. Until yesterday, I believed that Penn was doing all the right things in restoring safety to the Penn campus. I was horrified, however, to learn about the "drive-by shooting" outside the Palestra after the Philadelphia Public League high school boys basketball championship. According to The Daily Pennsylvanian, someone fired an automatic or semiautomatic gun at least 15 times before fleeing west on Walnut Street. The police attributed the violence to a fistfight between fans inside the Palestra during the game. One man was killed, several more were wounded, including a Penn student, and hundreds more were put in extreme jeopardy. This morning when I read the DP, I was even more horrified to learn that gunshots were fired after the same game last year. After reading the article, a question occurred to me, "Would a reasonable person schedule an open event in her back yard if during the previous year a guest at that event fired multiple gunshots at the other guests?" I expect the answer is no. Why on earth would Penn's administrators allow an event to be held on campus when it had direct knowledge that life-threatening violence was likely to ensue. This is totally irresponsible and bordering on insanity. How could you possibly explain to a Penn parent that their child had died because the University had invited an event on to the campus that was known to provoke violence. I hope that an investigation is conducted to find out why this event was scheduled after the violence that occurred last year. Furthermore, I believe that before any event is scheduled on campus in the future, the Division of Public Safety should prepare a "Safety/Violence Impact Statement" somewhat like an "Environmental Impact Statement." This should be reviewed and approved by a top University official. If it is determined there is more than a minimal chance of violence, the event should not be scheduled on campus. Had an impact statement been performed with regard to the Philadelphia Public League high school boys basketball championship, it would not have been held at Penn. University President Judith Rodin not only has an obligation to educate our children but an obligation to protect them to the best of her ability. For the most part I believe that she has done a good job in this area. However, the use of University facilities by outsiders is one area that needs to be immediately addressed. V. Peter Wynne, Esq. Penn Parent
(02/16/98 10:00am)
As part of his visit to Philadelphia Friday, the president advocated a tobacco tax hike in a speech to scientists. Warning that one million children's lives are at stake, President Clinton called on Congress to pass new legislation ending "the deadly epidemic of teen smoking" Friday during a speech in Philadelphia. The remarks came during a speech Clinton gave before 3,000 scientists gathered in Philadelphia for the annual convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The speech was the first of three stops Clinton made during his whirlwind one-day visit to Philadelphia, a city that gave him three-fourths of its votes in the 1996 election. After the address, the presidential motorcade passed through the Penn campus en route to a luncheon with Philadephia Mayor Ed Rendell and other city leaders at Big George's Stop-N-Dine, a Southern food restaurant at 52nd and Spruce streets. The president also attended an evening fundraiser at a private residence in Rittenhouse Square. Clinton's address came on the occasion of the Association's 150th birthday. The group -- which was founded in Philadelphia -- is the nation's largest professional organization for scientists, boasting 143,000 members. Clinton became the first president to address the group since Harry Truman spoke in 1948. In his 30-minute speech at the Marriott Hotel in Center City, smoking was the target of Clinton's strongest rhetoric, as he characterized tobacco as a threat to America's children. The centerpiece of the president's proposal to cut teen smoking is a $1.50 increase in the federal tax on tobacco over the next 10 years. He said the tax was designed to "change forever the way the tobacco companies do business." He called on the gathered scientists to "speak with a very loud voice" in favor of the legislation. Throughout the speech, Clinton mixed praise for scientific progress with calls for caution in the face of rapid advances. "We must always marry our newest idea with our oldest values," he said. The remarks came as part of a veiled reference to Richard Seed, a Chicago doctor who has announced plans to clone a human being. The president denounced any such attempt as "untested, unsafe and morally unacceptable." That was the extent of any critical remarks toward the scientific community, which the president otherwise praised and promised increased funding. "Our nation has always believed that what you do would transform our nation for the better," he said. But while Clinton acknowledged the portrayal of a future where science has run amok in movies such as Mad Max, the president told the audience that "I don't think you believe that's what it's going to be like." Instead, he called on the gathered scientists to "accept the responsibility to imagine and invent a different kind of future." Clinton went on to describe a future president addressing the Association's 200th convention -- in 2048 -- in a world free of cancer, AIDS and "climatic disruption." That vision of the future is one that Americans have the responsibility to create, Clinton said. "Speak loudly for our children," he said. "Tell people there will be miracles they cannot imagine in the 21st century. But tell them they must take responsibility for [the future]." The convention, which will continue through February 17, will feature speeches by 21 Penn professors on topics ranging from "Chocolate Craving" to "The Rights and Wrongs of Cloning." Penn President Judith Rodin is a co-chairperson of the local host committee for the convention.
